The detoxification of aqueous solutions of organic compounds by separation or other unit operations of chemical engineering is not usually satisfactory in that the hazardous substances are merely transferred to another phase and must then be destroyed in another step or stored in a secure manner. The destruction of inorganic compounds has also created problems when a two-phase system is utilized because of the mass-transfer resistances associated with phase boundaries.
Systems which have recognized these problems are known, e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,338,199 and 4,543,190. However, these systems utilize gaseous oxidizers which results in substantial capital and operating costs.
It is an object of this invention to provide a method of processing organic compounds in a single supercritical aqueous phase, thereby eliminating the storage and mass transfer problems, and substantially reducing the capital and operating costs of existing detoxification systems.